Contributed bySC Arts Commission

Elizabeth Stepp

Elizabeth Stepp, a student at Richland Northeast High School, won first prize in the SC state finals of Poetry Out Loud, a national poetry recitation competition sponsored locally by the SC Arts Commission. Stepp goes on to compete for a $20,000 college scholarship in the national finals, which will take place in Washington, D.C., May 16. Avery Bateman of Irmo High School received second prize.

In addition to an all expense paid trip to Washington, D.C., Stepp will receive a $200 cash prize. Richland Northeast High School will receive $500 for the purchase of poetry books for its school library.

The South Carolina finals were held April 8 at the Columbia Museum of Art. Students from eight Richland and Lexington County high schools competed. In addition to Stepp and Bateman, participants were Azmi Abusam, Brookland-Cayce High School; Tiara Ellis, C.A. Johnson Preparatory Academy; Abigail Khushf, Dreher High School; Angelica Washington, Keenan High School; Jordan Steinhauser, Lexington High School; and Rachel Hipp, Ridge View High School.

Hope O'Keefe, who works with the national Poetry Out Loud program in the National Initiatives Office of the National Endowment for the Arts, was on hand to award the state prizes. Delighted with the success of SC's pilot phase of the national recitation contest, O'Keefe said, "South Carolina would be well represented by any of the talented students who participated in today's event."

Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest is a program of The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), a federal agency, and the Poetry Foundation that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. Schools in each state participate in classroom and school wide contests, advancing to state competitions.

Partnering with the State Arts Commission on this project was Split P Soup, an outreach project of the South Carolina Poetry Initiative of the University of South Carolina, the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties, and the state Poet Laureate Marjory Wentworth. Coordinating the program were Sara June Goldstein, director of Literary Arts at the Arts Commission, and Theresa Frost, program coordinator of the Literary Arts Partnership Program.